Truth About Tyrannosaurs - Podcast Link with David Hone

[Simon]

From the website:

"Why does the tyrannosaurus continue to fascinate us?

Joining Ian Sample in the studio this week is David Hone, a palaeontologist at Queen Mary University of London, and the author of The Tyrannosaur Chronicles."


https://www.theguardian.com/science/audio/2016/may/13/the-truth-of-the-tyrannosaurus-podcast

[Simon]

A great listen.

One thing that I did not know prior to listening to this is that Tyrannosaurus Rex had the largest eyeballs (and hence by deduction, the best eyesight) of any terrestrial animal that ever lived.  Along with the biggest olfactory nodes and super-sense of smell.

In other words, you couldn't hide from it.

[antorbitalfenestrae]

One thing that I did not know prior to listening to this is that Tyrannosaurus Rex had the largest eyeballs (and hence by deduction, the best eyesight) of any terrestrial animal that ever lived.

Does it really work that way? I would've thought it would be more to do with the structure of the eye and the optical part of the brain rather than absolute size...

Sounds interesting though, I'll definitely go and listen to it soon

[Simon]

One thing that I did not know prior to listening to this is that Tyrannosaurus Rex had the largest eyeballs (and hence by deduction, the best eyesight) of any terrestrial animal that ever lived.

Does it really work that way? I would've thought it would be more to do with the structure of the eye and the optical part of the brain rather than absolute size...

Sounds interesting though, I'll definitely go and listen to it soon

That's the point Hone was making ... I gather that eye size is definitely associated with quality of vision in living animals ... think about night animals, that have developed larger eyes so they can be more sensitive ... applying the same logic would mean that Trex probably had really, really great eye sight as well as smell ...

[Halichoeres]

Yeah, for example in mammals (https://www.karger.com/Article/FullText/357830) eye diameter is positively associated with visual acuity. So is diurnality (nocturnal animals see better in low light, but they don't make clearer pictures, because they have more "rod" opsins than "cone" opsins). Being a predator is also a significant predictor of visual acuity. I don't know of any evidence of tyrannosaur habits, but having giant eyes and being a predator, it probably did have pretty good vision. Haven't listened to the podcast yet, though.

[Viking Spawn]

How interesting!  Thanks for sharing Simon! 

[Uncle Rex]

I finally listened to this podcast and really enjoyed it. I'll now put David Hone's book on my Xmas wish list.

[BlueKrono]

What does that say about Architeuthis then?

[suspsy]

I finally listened to this podcast and really enjoyed it. I'll now put David Hone's book on my Xmas wish list.

I have it. It's a really good read. Have to say, while I'm fine with reading scientific books, I like how this one is written in a simple, layman style (hate that term) that anyone can easily follow and understand.